adidas Stan Smith

OK, gang - here's a weird one. I was banging around on the adidas site, and noticed that they no longer had Stan Smiths for sale. I just figured it was some kind of between-seasons thing and paid it no mind. But I went back a few days ago, and still no Stans. So, curious, I called adidas and asked; the customer service lady didn't know anything, but said she'd let me know. A couple of days ago, she sends me an email saying that adidas won't have Stan Smiths in stock for the rest of 2013. No explanation beyond that. I looked online and didn't see anything about any kind of contract snafu between adidas and Stan Smith (the man), so that seems unlikely. So how on Earth can adidas suddenly not have the most popular tennis shoe in history in stock for more than a year? It just seems strange. Maybe it's some issue with where they're manufactured; that seems to make the most sense. But I figured that, if anyone would know, it'd be one of you. So...any clues?

The adidas site has Lavers all over the place (five versions, including the original white/green). No shortage there. The Nastases were never as popular as either the Lavers or the Smiths, so that doesn't surprise me. But no Smiths???

Do people still wear the Stan Smiths to actually play tennis in? They seem awfully out of date and not very supportive compared to today's modern tennis shoes. I wore them as well as the Laver's back in the 70's and today's tennis shoes are so much better.

I bought a pair a few months ago at an adidas outlet and they were letting them go at about $20.00/pair (half off clearance). Maybe they were dumping them? I thought I could add them into my playing rotation but I just don't sense they would be comfortable for actual play....been trying to break them in since I got then but they are stubborn.

The adidas site has Lavers all over the place (five versions, including the original white/green). No shortage there. The Nastases were never as popular as either the Lavers or the Smiths, so that doesn't surprise me. But no Smiths???

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I don't seem to see the Lavers in the UK, sadly. They did a black pair with a white sole that looked the muts.

A guy I play with wears Smiths. Its only for fairly gentle doubles, but he gets about in them pretty nicely and Ive always been an advocate of less is more. They have decent leather uppers so support is ok and providing you dont need too much padding under foot then theyre pretty slick, nothing a good gel insole wouldnt solve anyway. Plenty of old pro's wore them so they can't be too bad. I think we just get a bit pampered these days.

Off court of course, theyre hard to match for iconic style, second only perhaps to the Diadora Borg Elite.

I do wish though, that Adidas would bring back a few slightly modernised versions again that could stand up to hard court play with a little more comfort underfoot.